Rent allowance fraudster repaying cash via widow's pension

A fraudster who is having €40 a week deducted from her widow’s pension to refund €21,000 in rent allowances she got through false pretences has received a two-year suspended sentence.

Margaret Carroll (nee Whelan) 46, of Llewellyn Grove, Rathfarnham was also previously convicted for a Ir£230,000 fraud in which she ripped off four businessmen in a purported clothing deal and was ordered in May 2003 to carry out 240 hours community service for that crime.